This invention relates to a method for operating a strip reel whose drum consists of several expandable segments which are braced by wedge-shaped contact surfaces that are movable in the axial direction against a central hollow shaft pivoted in the reel housing, and which are adjusted by means of a ram that is mounted in the hollow shaft.
The invention relates further to a strip reel for carrying out the method, the reel being equipped with a shifting drive for the reel housing, which brings about the pushing in and out of the reel drum relative to the strip coil and/or relative to the strip centering control mechanism.
German patent publications DE-AS 10 07 279 and DE-PS 17 52 185 show strip reels that have a drum consisting of several expandable segments that engage wedge-shaped surfaces movable in the axial direction against a central hollow shaft that is pivoted in a reel housing. The segments can be adjusted relative to the hollow shaft by means of a ram that is mounted in the hollow shaft.
Such strip reels have advantageous over the type shown, for example, in German patent publication DL-PS 34 240 insofar as the direct bracing of the drum segments against the circumference of the hollow shafts results in comparatively small structural dimensions which produce a substantial reduction of the rotation moment. This also reduces the moments of acceleration, braking, and allows instantaneous stops. Also, the bearing diameters for the reel shaft can be considerably reduced, so that, even with increased normal speeds, the wear on the bearings will be less.
The strip reels shown in German patent publications DE-AS 10 07 279 and DE-PS 17 52 185 suffer, however, from the deficiency that, when the drum segments are spread, there occurs simultaneously an axial shifting of the segments relative to the reel shaft. This axial shifting may impair the orderly uncoiling of the strip into the subsequent processing plants, unless, subsequent to the clamping of the strip coil onto the reel drum, an appropriate correction of the position of the whole reel is carried out relative to the subsequent processing plant. Such a positional correction of the entire strip reel can be carried out by means of the shifting drive which pushes the reel drum in and out relative to the strip coil and/or is used for the center control of the strip coil. However, carrying out such a subsequent positional correction is comparatively time consuming and also requires an operating crew with considerable skill.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved reel which eliminates the deficiencies of the known strip reels described above.
Another object of the invention is a method for the operation of the improved strip reel, which would allow a satisfactory unwinding of the strip from the coil after it has been clamped.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a coil reel and method of operating the coil reel in which relative shifting between the segments and the hollow shaft is picked up and converted into an opposing shifting movement of the reel housing on the reel bed of a corresponding magnitude.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a coil reel in which the drum segments, during their movement for the purpose of clamping the strip, always retain their given position relative to the entry center line of the subsequent processing stations downstream of the reel, thus assuring in this way that the strip reel can be readily placed in service after the clamping process has been concluded.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of apparatus and a method for operating an improved coil reel, which includes measuring the relative shifting of the ram relative to the hollow shaft and using this measurement as a control value for the shifting drive of the reel housing; since the relative shifting of the ram relative to the hollow shaft corresponds to the relative shifting between segments of the reel drum and the hollow shaft that carries and guides them, it is possible to ascertain in this way the respective specific correction value in the most simple manner and with the lowest possible relative error.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.